Pakistan church bombing injures 13

A grenade followed by a powerful car bomb exploded outside a Christian church in Karachi, injuring at least 13 people in the first instance of anti-Christian violence in more than a year.

Two men on a speeding motorcycle hurled the grenade at the Pakistan Bible Society's Christian Reading Library, next to the Trinity Church, in central Karachi's crowded Saddar bazaar, injuring no-one but drawing crowds, security officials said.

The car bomb went off 15 or 20 minutes later as employees of the library and church gathered outside along with several policemen.

"The blast was timed to cause maximum damage. It was a very close shave," a senior Karachi police officer told AFP.

"The policemen and the employees were lucky that they were standing away from the bomb-fitted car, otherwise the toll could have been higher."

Interior Ministry official Brigadier Javed Cheema, who heads the Crises Management Cell, said 13 people were wounded.

"Thirteen people were injured but no one has died. A majority of the injured had minor wounds," Cheema told AFP.

Bomb disposal squad official Kashif Jalal said the library was targeted with a grenade and not a firecracker.

Jalal said up to nine kilograms of explosives were used in the car.

The attack appears to be the first anti-Christian strike since 2002, when five attacks on Christian institutions left 25 people dead.

Those attacks were blamed on Islamic militants furious at the government's support of the US-led ouster of the Islamic Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan.